Communication devices of this type are known in general, especially as foreign travel aids. The inventor's prior invention is a language communicator having a plurality of pictograms on a plurality of foldable laminated sheets. A traveler may use this language communicator to attempt to communicate with people in a foreign country who do not speak the same language as the traveler.
The traveler would point to a specific pictogram that depicts a specific concept such as whether a room has a shower or a double bed. However, the above noted known communication device is limited to a general domain.
Other known language communication devices include flip charts that combine written language and pictograms such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,115 to Glass et al. However, language communicators of this type are limited to one specific language that a person is trying to communicate in. Specifically, if an English speaking person were attempting to communicate in Spanish he would use one translator, but if he wanted to communicate in French or some completely different language like Arabic, he would need a separate device. While this type of device may be acceptable for travel to a foreign country, a single device that is independent of written language would be more time efficient and cost efficient to convey a wider set of language concepts.
The idea of a language communicator is not restricted to a device that a person can carry with him such as the above foldable device, but can be used with other mediums such as a computer display. U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,342 to Steele et al. teaches an interactive method of communicating by arranging a plurality of icons in a row on a computer screen so that taken together, the plural icons form a sentence.
However, there is a still a need for a simple device to quickly and clearly communicate without any written language that can be used to communicate between people that each speak a different language or are unable to speak such that a plurality of different languages can be communicated using a single device.